Anyone know how to make those trippy/psychedelic light shows?

You know those "acid shows" or "light shows" that were really popular in the sixties? (I think Joshua White was a pretty famous light show artist...) Anyone know how to make cool ones? I mean... it seems pretty simple, and I get the basic concept. Colored filters, swirls of colored oil... and water... and alcohol maybe, And a projector... but is there a "proper" way or something? Probably not... but anything you know on the sibject helps.
Any ideas? Or... instructbales?
Oh. P.S. An instructable on Underwater Light shows would be welcome too.
Woah. I just had an awesome idea. But I'm keeping it to myself for now.

The best H20 light show colorings are Doc PH Martin's transparent water colors....make sure you get the 'transparent' ones...you can get many many vivid colors. Try any good art store or online, like dickblick.com

Clock faces were really hard to find, but you can get these convex clock glasses - in suitable diameters - at www.clock-keys.com. Look under 'convex glass'...the 9", 10", 11", & 12" sizes usually fit overhead stages best. You can always make circular masking out of dark paper to de-square your imagery.

DON'T forget Marc's advice @ piglightshow.com: Wet sand the edges carefully first, going all ' round them ; he says he knew too many people who got one too many nice slices on their fingers if using raw, unsanded clock glass. I found that circular sanding...lightly & w care... using a light grade of wet sandpaper grit, til all edges - over & under - were handle-able did the trick. You can tell when they are safely soft edged by carefully touching the edges.

Colored Oil dyes can be gotten from Nancy's Fancy's Candies (try a search, it shoud be easy - I don't know the online site offhand) Or (I think better as far as vividness goes) try www.yaleys.com - oil-based candle dyes, not too expensive either. This way you can get WAY more color contrasts than by using just the more common Mc Cormick's food colors w plain mineral oil (not that that's bad) Kudos to olive oil & grenadine syrup, btw - grenadine makes a truly cool red H20 mix.

I've heard of people using paint in oil. Colored oil in water. Anything that'll swirl in color. Get two matching concave clock faces and an old-school overhead projector. Put a clock face on the projector, put your colored stuff in the clock face, put the other clock face on (don't spill!) Be a mad scientist with your coloring beforehand, and maybe add some during the show. I dunno. But move the top clock face back and forth and tip it, squishing the colored stuff all around in the bottom face, creating tripy patterns. It'll move in and out of focus a bit, too, if you tip it side to side, putting the rim in focus, then the center, then the focal point moving around the design. Very cool. If you're familiar with "wetslide" technique for microscopes and stuff, make a technicolor wetslide for a slide projector. Make osme more. Now do a slideshow. Beware, though, the heat of the projector might make then want to blow up. I've made some trippy stuff and taken a photo of it with slide film. Once I had a whole roll of psychedelic patterns I got them made into slides, which didn't have that tendency to blow up. Of course, they also were unchanging, unlike the oil slides. But I've used the slideshow technique to great effect.

The best H20 light show colorings are Doc PH Martin's transparent water colors....make sure you get the 'transparent' ones...you can get many many vivid colors. Try any good art store or online, like dickblick.com

Clock faces were really hard to find, but you can get these convex clock glasses - in suitable diameters - at www.clock-keys.com. Look under 'convex glass'...the 9", 10", 11", & 12" sizes usually fit overhead stages best. You can always make circular masking out of dark paper to de-square your imagery.

DON'T forget Marc's advice @ piglightshow.com: Wet sand the edges carefully first, going all ' round them ; he says he knew too many people who got one too many nice slices on their fingers if using raw, unsanded clock glass. I found that circular sanding...lightly & w care... using a light grade of wet sandpaper grit, til all edges - over & under - were handle-able did the trick. You can tell when they are safely soft edged by carefully touching the edges.

Colored Oil dyes can be gotten from Nancy's Fancy's Candies (try a search, it shoud be easy - I don't know the online site offhand) Or (I think better as far as vividness goes) try www.yaleys.com - oil-based candle dyes, not too expensive either. This way you can get WAY more color contrasts than by using just the more common Mc Cormick's food colors w plain mineral oil (not that that's bad) Kudos to olive oil & grenadine syrup, btw - grenadine makes a truly cool red H20 mix.

COOOL! exactly what i was looking for! thank you soooo much! If I ever run into on the street or in an airport and you happen to be wearing an "I Am Rishanai" shirt, i will most definetley give you a corn muffin and a hug. }:)

www.piglightshow.com will show you all the logistics of preparing & using the clock faces, as well as the different dish prep setups they used for liquids.Plenty of good info & how-to's for these; I think one of the best on the net.

I use Doc PH Martins transparent watercolors for the H20 parts of my mixes. Oil is usually Eckerd Mineral oil; olive oil can be pretty good as well.

Playing the dishes is like jamming w other musicians;you lock in w the music or bands after a warmup... its subtle: small movements of the dishes can do the most amazing things & vary your effects. Definitely make vids.

Overhead projectors are decently cheap on ebay now. The higher lumenage 3M or Dukane types ( a bit more $) give best results, as you will tend to want lighting levels that can cut thru ambient light.

The 3Ms that have circular, doublet lenses - I think the 3M1850 series types - give great light. But any decent, 2800 lumen overhead will do. Just search ebay for the higher lumenage ones if you're seriously into impressive colorifics (or competing w ambient lights)

Don't forget to cut & place place a small, clear vinyl or acetate square sheet - easily available at many hardware stores - over the projector stage, saving your self stainmaking drippage. You can also use any masking material to make a square projector output circular, looks much better w the circular clock faces.

The darker your area, the better - liquid effects can be awesome in near total darkness. Just have an LED light or small ambient light nearby to see what you're doing.

There are many shows that hybrid effects, bringing imagery from LCD projectors, layering it with the overheads & liquids.

They are called oil wheel projectors. I used to roadie for a rock band & run a disco back in the 80s & we used them all the time, back then oil light disks were quite expensive but worth the money if you had the right lighting to go with it. Your profile does not say where you are but the links below should give you a start.

About This Topic

Bio:i'm not actually a margerineMAN... but only got the name from a friend's interpretation of "I AM THE MODREN(*modern said in a modren fashion*) MANN!" From Styx's Mr. Roboto. i AM a busy bee though. to...read more »